Carney’s quiet swipe at Trump as he praises new Canada-EU move

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has taken a veiled swipe at US President Donald Trump as he basked in the proposal to be the first ever “associate member” of the European Union.

Trump bristled at an announcement on Wednesday by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen would strengthen Canada’s relationship with the EU.

The US president immediately threatened there could be “heavy tariffs” placed on the EU if he decided the Canada agreement was a “hostile act”.

“If it’s a good intention, that’s fine. If it’s a bad intention, we’ll put very heavy tariffs on Europe, which is a possibility,” he told reporters.

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On Thursday morning (night AEST), Carney appeared to be referencing his storied history with Trump when he said Canada deepening ties with the EU wasn’t simply aimed at creating a new geopolitical bloc “with better manners”.

Carney told the European Parliament in France that a deeper partnership was intended to create “resilience” rather than “self-sufficiency”.

“I’m not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great power rival, only with better manners,” he said.

“We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten territorial integrity or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.”

Canada and the EU have both been on the sharp end of Trump’s combative approach to trade in recent years, spurring them to seek new alliances to shore up their economies.

Carney later told reporters that Canadian politicians would debate and ultimately vote on the “final structure” of a new alliance with the EU.

Canada is locked in a trade war with the US, its largest trading partner, lending urgency to efforts to get closer to the EU, which has itself battled numerous trade spats with America.

EU and Canada ‘stronger together’

During an address in which he occasionally spoke in French and drew heavily on the historic ties between Canada and the EU, Carney laid out the case for closer cooperation to build resilience against what he called “new storms”, citing climate change, the weaponisation of trade and the erosion of democratic norms.

“Europe and Canada are stronger together,” he said.

“A Canada-EU alliance would create a beacon for other democracies,” he added, noting that it would be open to other countries to join.

Carney welcomed Von der Leyen’s ambition to make Canada an EU “associate member” and said an “overwhelming majority” of Canadians also supported closer ties, according to polls.

He said Canada and Europe should cooperate on critical minerals and energy security, touting Canada’s ability to provide Europe with liquefied natural gas and hydrogen.

He also highlighted defence production, payments and artificial intelligence as areas for closer cooperation, saying Europe and Canada could jointly develop AI safety protocols.

Von der Leyen highlighted many of the same areas for cooperation in a speech on Wednesday, although, unlike Carney, she made no mention of reciprocal work and study visas for young people.

Carney suggested that Canada should be allowed to join the EU’s coveted Erasmus+ and Horizon programs, which provide considerable funding to education and scientific research, respectively.

“We should deepen our people-to-people ties, allowing our youth to live, work and study where they want on either side of the Atlantic,” he said.

Pushback from Germany

Some EU officials have expressed scepticism over the proposal to give Canada a status that does not currently exist.

German government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius told reporters on Wednesday that Berlin welcomed the push for an “especially close partnership” with Canada and was open to “discussing new models that reflect the special significance of the relationship”, but that the term “associate member” should be reconsidered.

Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, appeared to support closer ties. During Carney’s speech, Sanchez, who has frequently butted heads with Trump, posted a picture of an EU flag on X with a red maple leaf, Canada’s national symbol, next to the usual 12 golden stars.

Canada and the EU already share a substantial trading relationship, but the CETA trade deal agreed in 2017 has yet to be ratified by 10 EU member states, including France, Italy and Poland – a potential hurdle to deepening the EU-Canada alliance.

“Associate membership does not exist,” said Tinatin Akhvlediani, head of EU enlargement at the Centre for European Policy Studies, a Brussels-based think tank. Countries including Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia have “association agreements” in place with the EU, but these entail alignment with the bloc’s laws, something Canada is unlikely to want, she told CNN on Wednesday.

Bilateral trade in goods and services reached €130.8 billion ($151 billion) last year, according to the European Commission, up more than 80 per cent over the past decade. Major EU exports to Canada include cars, machinery and pharmaceuticals. Canadian exports to Europe include crude oil, fertiliser, critical minerals and base metals.

- Reported with CNN